(Photo by Long Bach Nguyen)
That’s a June 27th photograph of the Noble Discoverer, one of two Shell oil-drilling vessels that left Harbor Island’s Vigor Shipyards that day (WSB coverage here) after months of work, headed for a controversial new round of Arctic offshore drilling. A WSB’er has called our attention to a new report of trouble for the ND before it had even reached its destination; as shown in this photo published by the Washington Post, it came very close to shore in Alaska over the weekend. It went adrift off Dutch Harbor in the Aleutians (Coast Guard news release here), where it and the other rig worked on at Vigor, Kulluk, have been waiting; they haven’t made it into the Arctic Ocean because of heavier-than-expected ice, according to this detailed report from an Alaska news organization. Another update says Shell doesn’t think it ran aground; they’re still checking for possible damage.
West Seattle, Washington
17 Wednesday
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